Build a Bag — Raw Shungite by Weight

Raw shungite from the Zazhoginsky seam in Karelia, sold by weight. Not tumbled, not polished, not sealed — broken from the rock, sorted by size, weighed on a scale, and nothing else done to it. Pick the piece size and the amount.

Pick the stone size

• Small — for water jars, pouches, a handful in a car
• Medium — one piece for every room: desk, windowsill, bedside
• Large — shelf pieces, heavy enough to sit and stay
• Mix — a scoop across all three

Pick the weight

From 300 g at €14,30 to 2,1 kg at €64,70, in 100 g steps. The more you take the less each 100 g costs — about €4,77 per 100 g at 300 g, about €3,08 at 2,1 kg. For a 3-litre water jug, 300 g is right; the 330 g water stones are the same thing pre-sized. For a bowl or a shelf, 600 g to 1 kg is where the price starts to fall properly.

What raw shungite is like

Matte black with the fracture faces still on it, pale quartz veins and glints of pyrite across the surface, and a little carbon dust that comes off on your hands until it has been rinsed a few times. That dust is a sign of the real thing — painted stone sheds nothing. If you want stone that leaves nothing on your fingers, the tumbled polished stones are the same rock with the edges rounded off.

Larger single pieces

For one big stone rather than a bag of them, the one-of-a-kind specimens are single pieces up to 2,45 kg, each photographed on its own.

Real shungite conducts electricity: tap a phone screen with it and the screen responds as if to a fingertip. Resin and painted stone do nothing. The full test guide is here.